29 October 2009

Ok, I was totally not serious about that whole "see you in a month..." thing, but I just looked at the calendar and realized 3 1/2 weeks have, indeed, slipped past me, and if I'm not careful, my little joke will become true!It seems we can't catch a break at school. A car accident involving a senior and a former student has left us with yet another funeral in the school district family and two other young people on a long road to recovery. This is a district with approximately 800 students in K-12, so nearly everyone knows everyone else, making these events exponentially hard on the students and staff. I keep storing away anecdotes to share "later," but never getting around to sharing. The all picture-taking season is mostly over, ruined by incessant rain and drear. Not to mention that my favorite route to school is in the middle of renovation, so a stretch of gravel road now inhibits my morning drive. Those of you who live on gravel have no sympathy, I'm sure, but this is new, temporary, soupy gravel that threatens to suck my vehicle into the muck, and I am sad. To my credit, however, along the routes I do drive to school the score is now brakes 5, deer 0. Hoping to remain undefeated in that category.Now it's time to kick the morning routine into high gear. Hope I've got more coffee...

04 October 2009

Wow. The time, she sure does fly. Let's see what's been going on around here.After the first weird week at school, we rolled into a normal year. Our normalcy hit a little bump last week with a small epidemic of three different family suicides within our district. Follow that with the news yesterday of a substantial layoff at a major employer in the district, and to say the mood is a little gloomy around the building is an understatement. We soldier on, though. The kids are pretty resilient, and the staff is first rate. I got out to Meander a little this weekend. In the past I've always worked these weekends, so it was kinda fun to be out and about for a bit with all the other artsy farts, wishing I had more money to spend. I treasure my weekends at the moment. All too soon, my Saturdays will be claimed by Knowledge Bowl meets, and then, pending school board approval, speech meets. I think common speculation is that I'm a bit cracked to take on so many extracurriculars, but being part-time gives me a little more time to devote to such things, and the extracurriculars pad my itty bitty paycheck just a titch.Thing 1 is taking a recreational vehicle class at school, and has made the Purple Ride her project for the term. She transferred to my school this year, and frequently pops in on her way to her class across the hall from me, smelling of motor oil and happily mussed up. What a kid.Our borrowed daughters for the year seem to be settling in. The Swiss Miss is quite busy with volleyball. Our VIetnamese daughter plans to try basketball. I, of course, made both daughters at my school try Knowledge Bowl for the season, and from the interaction I see there, they both seem to be fitting in just fine.Now I'm off to plan and set up for my week. I'll talk to you in another month!